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Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:20 am
by Tafdolphin
I've been under a fair amount of stress lately...both work based and of the rather more terrifying "oh god what am I even doing with my life??!?" kind. One of the ways I've found to calm myself down is guided meditation apps like Headspace and another is watching ASMR videos on YouTube.
There was a whole VICE article on the phenomenon a while back too
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gqww ... an-explainIt's a little unsettling, almost like finding someone's video diary and knowing immediately you weren't supposed to watch it, and the tag "ASMR" doesn't explain much, least of all why it has 125,000 views and more than 800 likes. If, on the other hand, you're one of the people the video was made for—one of those people who experience Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response—you'll probably find all six minutes incredibly satisfying, the video equivalent of a really nice, mellow kind of drug that leaves no aftertaste.
From that article, and the way my wife reacts to the videos, it seems like a whole load of people strawberry floating hate ASMR, thinking of it more of a weird semi-sexual fetish than anything else. Personally I don't find them in any way linked to eroticism, but folks get their kicks where they can I suppose.
I have no idea what the general perception of these things are though. Valid way of unwinding or twisted fake intimacy simulators?
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:31 am
by Curls
Dunno what you’re on about at all. Never heard of it. However I just hit play on the video and she sounds like Mary-Anne Hobbs so it’s a no for me.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:32 am
by Dual
Hearing people smack their lips makes my skin crawl.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:52 am
by Preezy
It's only weird if you make other people endure it. Otherwise nah it's fine.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:54 am
by Moggy
You are a freak and should be shunned by society.
But that's just what I think about you anyway, the video fetish just adds to my perception of you.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:01 am
by more heat than light
Does she have a microphone in her mouth or something? It sounds like someone eating popping candy.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:01 am
by Vermilion
This reminds me of one of those bizarre resetera threads.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:07 am
by Jenuall
I kind of get the appeal of genuine ASMR videos, I'm one of those weirdos that appreciates listening to white noise videos, often listen to rain/thunderstorm videos in order to fall asleep etc. That kind of material can often give me "tingles" as I believe the ASMR community like to refer to it.
That said I've tried listening to several ASMR videos and they generally don't "do it" for me, I think too many of them have too much variety in the kinds of sounds they use for my liking. Gentle continuous noises I appreciate, but loads of them seem to do more annoying thing like randomly tapping on metal/glass objects and what not.
Obviously there also are many people making ASMR videos that seem to just exist as sexual-fetish type material: here's a video of me wearing a low cut top leaning forward into a slightly wide angled lens shot so it feels like a POV and I pretend to stroke "your face" and lick the microphone ... yeah that's not really an ASMR video is it?
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:16 am
by Tafdolphin
more heat than light wrote:Does she have a microphone in her mouth or something? It sounds like someone eating popping candy.
That's pretty much the point. ASMR relies on close sounds like whispering, friction noises and popping or cracking. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an entire video of someone just eating popping candy!
It does seem to be very much a love it or hate it thing. As I say my wife can't strawberry floating stand it, finds it an invasion of personal space rather than anything approaching relaxing.
Jenuall wrote:That said I've tried listening to several ASMR videos and they generally don't "do it" for me, I think too many of them have too much variety in the kinds of sounds they use for my liking. Gentle continuous noises I appreciate, but loads of them seem to do more annoying thing like randomly tapping on metal/glass objects and what not.
I found it interesting that the VICE article seems to imply ASMR is a 'can roll your tongue' type thing: some people simply can't experience it. The description of it as 'a head massage but on the inside' is accurate to what I experience when I watch them.
Some of them are just for titillation however:
That's porn actress Amy Starr. Props for diversifying I suppose.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:23 am
by Jenuall
Tafdolphin wrote:more heat than light wrote:Does she have a microphone in her mouth or something? It sounds like someone eating popping candy.
That's pretty much the point. ASMR relies on close sounds like whispering, friction noises and popping or cracking. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an entire video of someone just eating popping candy!
It does seem to be very much a love it or hate it thing. As I say my wife can't strawberry floating stand it, finds it an invasion of personal space rather than anything approaching relaxing.
Jenuall wrote:That said I've tried listening to several ASMR videos and they generally don't "do it" for me, I think too many of them have too much variety in the kinds of sounds they use for my liking. Gentle continuous noises I appreciate, but loads of them seem to do more annoying thing like randomly tapping on metal/glass objects and what not.
I found it interesting that the VICE article seems to imply ASMR is a 'can roll your tongue' type thing: some people simply can't experience it. The description of it as 'a head massage but on the inside' is accurate to what I experience when I watch them.
I think that is probably true, although I imagine it is probably more nuanced than a binary like/don't like ASMR. Like I say I get the "internal head massage" feeling from listening to rain sounds videos, and other white noise material (including bizarre things like listening to vacuum cleaner noises!) and ASMR "brushing" sounds videos give me a similar response. I just don't get a lot of the other stuff - clicking, tapping, whispering etc. - that ASMR seems to include.
I imagine some examples of the "genre" will appeal to some but not others, some may get the effect from all of it, some may not get any response from any ASMR at all and think that anyone who does is a freak!
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:27 am
by Tafdolphin
Yeah, you're right. I find that most triggers have some sort of effect, but opposite to yourself I find that whispering and tapping tend to do the most.
I've got a couple of stressful lessons coming up today so have been listening to various vids all morning and it's genuinely made me feel better.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:28 am
by OrangeRKN
It's unsettling on a possible serial killer sort of level
Wouldn't be surprised if "placing a pillow over someone's sleeping face (with a microphone real close)" is a regular ASMR video subject
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:29 am
by Tafdolphin
OrangeRKN wrote:It's unsettling on a possible serial killer sort of level
Wouldn't be surprised if "placing a pillow over someone's sleeping face (with a microphone real close)" is a regular ASMR video subject
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:30 am
by jawafour
I have listened to a few ASMR vids... I quite like Fairy Char.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:31 am
by Jenuall
OrangeRKN wrote:It's unsettling on a possible serial killer sort of level
Wouldn't be surprised if "placing a pillow over someone's sleeping face (with a microphone real close)" is a regular ASMR video subject
"Hey guys, check out my latest video:
ASMR: Tapping, Whispering and Stabbing sounds for tingles"
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:38 am
by Hexx
What is ASMR?
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:44 am
by Tafdolphin
Hexx wrote:What is ASMR?
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.
Basically, a tingling feeling triggered by close sounds or some visual stimuli. Apparently not everyone experiences it, but there's a growing industry of YouTube vids for those who do.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:44 am
by Squinty
Hexx wrote:What is ASMR?
My thoughts exactly.
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:45 am
by Tafdolphin
Wow, it's a shame the OP doesn't contain a whole article about ASMR, and also doesn't have a handily extracted quote detailing exactly what it is!
Re: Is liking ASMR videos...weird?
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 9:46 am
by Squinty
Tafdolphin wrote:Wow, it's a shame the OP doesn't contain a whole article about ASMR, and also doesn't have a handily extracted quote detailing exactly what it is!
I can't read. How hurtful.